Better care of back pain and co

Federal Committee: Improve supply of chronic diseases

08/23/2014

Back pain, rheumatism, heart failure: Millions of people in Germany suffer from chronic diseases. The Federal Joint Committee (G-BA) now wants to discuss whether special treatment programs can be developed for their treatment.

Consultations on four chronic diseases
Millions of people in Germany suffer from chronic diseases. The Federal Joint Committee (G-BA) of the central health associations has now decided to start consultations on chronic diseases rheumatoid arthritis, chronic heart failure, osteoporosis and back pain and discuss whether to develop structured disease management programs (DMPs) can be. As the committee member Regina Klakow-Franck explained, improving medical care through cross-sectoral treatment is the most important goal. However, it is unclear whether all four chronic diseases receive appropriate treatment programs.

Not just medicines
DMPs are systematic treatment programs that support medical care and improve medical care for the chronically ill. For a long time, these have been used in diseases such as asthma, breast cancer, chronic obstructive pulmonary disease (COPD), diabetes type 1 and 2 or coronary heart disease. For the treatment of chronic back pain, the social association SoVD believes that, among other things, not only medicines, but also other forms of treatment and measures for occupational reintegration should receive greater attention.

Two million Germans suffer from back pain
It goes on to say that in the case of inflammatory rheumatic diseases it will be a matter of enabling reliable and rapid diagnoses as well as proper treatment through an efficient allocation of tasks between GPs and specialists. Avoid unnecessary waiting times. According to the SoVD, around two million people in Germany suffer from back pain. An inflammatory rheumatic disease has been identified in well over 600,000 statutory health insurance patients. The G-BA is the supreme decision-making body of the joint self-administration of doctors, dentists, psychotherapists, hospitals and health insurance funds. (Ad)